leaders of the republican party to get involved in this presidential election. now at least we know who the top leader is. it's rush limbaugh. and it certainly isn't mitt romney. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. welcome to "politics nation." i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead -- it's been three days since rush limbaugh called a college student a slut. and i think it's time for him to go. he needs to be fired. the outrage over his offensive and insulting talk is growing. terry o'neil, the president of the national organization of women, is also calling for him to be fired. at least two advertisers have now bailed on rush. reports might be more to follow. several other advertisers are reporting overwhelming customer feedback and vowing to take a hard look at rick santorum of all people is running away

saying rush is, quote, being absurd. meanwhile, the woman at the center of all of this received some big support today. the president of the united states called sandra fluke thanking her for exercising her right to speak out on policy. she told andrea mitchell about the call today. >> he encouraged me and supported me and thanked me for speaking out about the concerns of american women and what was really personal for me was that he said to tell my parents that they should be proud. and that meant a lot because rush limbaugh questioned whether or not my family would be proud of me. >> everyone should be proud of you. but rush went ugly again. >> obama just called sandra fluke to make sure she was all right. aw. the president tells sandra fl e

fluke, 30-year-old sandra fluke, parents should be proud. your daughter appears before a congressional committee and says she's having so much sex she can't pay for it and wants a new welfare program to pay for it. >> this is beyond. after three days of this, republicans are silent. more than 170,000 people have signed a petition calling on republican leaders to denounce rush's anti-woman tirade. but speaker boehner, who rarely is afraid of a press conference, is hiding behind a statement from his press person. quote, the speaker obviously believes the use of those words was inappropriate, as it is in trying to raise money off the situation. a weak criticism and a shot at the democrats. not good enough. where are the rest of you? where's the leadership?

where's the outrage? and through it all, limbaugh refuses to apologize. >> the woman comes forth with this, frankly, hilarious claim that she's having so much sex and her buddies with her that she can't afford it. and not one person says, did you ever think about maybe backing off the amount of sex that you have. >> joining me now is congresswoman jan schakowsky, democrat from illinois. she's one of the 75 house democrats who signed the letter to speaker boehner asking him to repudiate limbaugh. and on the set with me is melissa harris-perry, host of msnbc's "melissa harris-perry." thank you both for being here tonight. congresswoman, let me start with you. as a member of congress, let me just put it straight at you. do you think rush limbaugh should be on the air? >> rush limbaugh should be

fired. but we're not helpless in the meantime. there are now all kinds of pressures on his advertisers, and i think everybody should go online, see if -- there is a list of all their advertisers and to his advertisers and make sure that they call for them to withdraw their support. this -- he has to be stopped because we can't create an atmosphere where there's permission for that kind of talk. it has gone way, way over the line. but i do have to say, reverend al, if his goal was to create a leader for this growing movement to put a face that sandra fluke on this growing outrage that he did a really good job of it. >> you know, melissa, when you listen at this, this is a young college student. rush today said he chose absurd rhetoric on purpose to point out the absurd -- how absurd he felt

this young student was. listen to what he said. >> yesterday in the riff about -- okay, fine. well, if we're going to pay for this, at least let us have something for it, how about some sex videos. if anybody doesn't realize that we were illustrating absurdity here by being absurd and that's the trademark of this program, oh, no. oh, that's -- of everything else you've said, that's now the lowest of the low. demanding sex video? what are you thinking? lighten up. >> it's not only the absurdity of that. he called her a slut, a prostitute. what are we talking about here? >> we're talking about a pretty standard way that when men who disagree with women want to -- and often women who want to disagree with women in the public sphere want to discredit them don't want to address the issues but want to discredit them as potential public voices. you say that they are whoring themselves or you call them sluts or prostitutes.

now i just want to say something that might be provocative here, but what if she were a slut. what if she were. what if by some definition of promiscuity this 30-year-old law student who has a history of activism was also sexually promiscuo promiscuous. so what. at what point have men who are studs who are sexually available, who are promiscuous been disallowed from speaking in public space? so even if she were and obviously i'm not suggesting that she is, but even if she were, the reason that it's powerful is the power that we give to it by saying any woman who is sexually promiscuous, we don't have to listen to her. she's not important and she has nothing valuable to say in the public sphere. >> congresswoman, when your republican colleagues have taken up in a rare occasion standing up to rush limbaugh for saying something wrong, they almost immediately took it back.

i mean, back pedals on rush limbaugh is almost a sporting habit with a lot of the right wing. look at congressman phil gingrey. he pack pedaled on january 27th, 2009. he says it's easy if you are sean hannity or rush limbaugh and even sometimes newt gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. you don't have to try to do what's best for your people or your party. but the next day, the error next day he says i clearly ended up putting my foot in my mouth. so, i mean, are they afraid of him because he has such a large audience of right wing listeners that may punish them and, therefore, they don't stand up to him because of they are afraid of his wrath with their voters. >> this is the kind of language that rush limbaugh is using in modern times has been relegated to the locker room or maybe

among modern men, not even so. if they dare to associate themselves in any way and defend that kind of talk, they do it at their peril. i'm telling you. women and lots of men, too, are really furious. they have absolutely touched a serious nerve here, and i think that the election really turns on these kinds of issues now. women are simply not going to be put in the place that rush limbaugh wants to put them. are not going to be subjected to that kind of language and being dismissed in that ugly and horrible way, in the way he makes fun of them. it's just not going to happen. so i think they are smart politically right now if they would distance themselves from rush limbaugh. >> sleep train mattress, melissa, tweeted at 9:00 a.m. this morning, they were pulling their support of rush saying,

quote, we don't condone negative comments directed toward any group. in response, we are currently pulling our ads from rush with rush limbaugh. is that what all advertisers should do? >> well, i can't say what advertisers should do. what i do love is that they did that. i think that we should support -- you know, everyone should support advertisers who behave in ways that we consider ethical and responsible, relative to our, you know, to our ideology, toward what we think is reasonable in the public atmosphere and so we can reward those people who have drawn it away. we have to be careful saying who should be fired. i obviously don't want to hear limbaugh, but we have done a lot of limbaugh coverage of this in part because it feels clear to me that he goes out as far as he can in order to get us to respond. now that said, we've got to respond because this is so ugly. this is so nasty. by the way, maybe he doesn't understand how hormonal birth control works. you only take the pill once and it actually doesn't matter how many times during the day you have sex. like there are so many aspects of it, this notion that if you

have a lot of sex, reproductive choice costs more. it's ridiculous. every aspect of what he said is a learning moment. is a teaching moment. it's an opportunity for us to engage. and so in that way, i guess as horrible as he is, this is an opportunity for us to support those folks who are doing the right thing here and for us to teach in the places where there was inaccuracies. >> well, congresswoman, i have the reverse. not only should you reward those. i think you tell those that are funding him, he has the right to say it, but we have the try to say we're not going to pay for it by dealing with advertisers that subsidize that. i've got a lot of calls today about what i did with imus. i have the try to say i'm not going to support it with my dollars. sometimes people choose having their profits over having people say things that offend their customers. congresswoman schakowsky, melissa harris-perry, thank you for your time and have a great weekend. >> see you tomorrow morning. >> i'll be there in the morning

with melissa harris-perry in the morning on my way to selma, but i've got to stop by melissa first. coming up, a federal judge sends a horribly racist e-mail about the president. i'll have my own ruling on this outrageous act. plus -- gop hopes for willard are fading fast. now some top conservatives are jumping off the sinking ship. and we're exposing a new organize effort to intimidate voters at polling stations all over the country. you are watching "politics nation" on msnbc. [ female announcer ] want to spend less and retire with more?

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we want to bring you up to date on the deadly tornadoes in the midwest. let's bring in nbc meteorologist bob karins.

>> we are watching one of the deadliest days of tornadoes we've seen in indiana, maybe in the state history. we have to go back to the record books and look that up. we've seen some very strong storms in indiana. the storms have now moved into areas of eastern kentucky, southern portions of indiana and southern portions of ohio. now approaching west virginia. ashland, ohio, area will see strong storms. and these are the account pictures from two hours ago. we saw this tornado in southern indiana. this is henriville, indiana. this is a high school that was hit. we saw a bus tossed literally halfway through a house. very strong winds. we had debris reported in cincinnati. incredible stuff. falling from the sky. the tornado didn't even go through cincinnati. this debris was picked up. we heard reports of asphalt from the road that was lifted up. it takes 180 to 200-mile-per-hour winds to do that. this is a wide spread outbreak that's occurring throughout areas of the ohio valley and tennessee valley.

i want to go back to the weather maps to show you and update you on who is at risk. eastern portions of kentucky. as we move southwards. nashville, just about in the clear. you saw large hail. the tornado threat is now more or less to the eastern side of town. we'll watch out for knoxville throughout the evening and also a very strong storm over the top of chattanooga. as far as the forecast goes, we're watching to the south, the worst of the weather throughout the evening. eventually those storms will make their way to atlanta, northern portions of alabama and into the carolinas overnight. the bottom line is we have fatalities. most of the worst damage appears to have been including areas of southern indiana. al, we have about two different towns. one town of 3,000 people, another of 1500 people that are practically wiped off the map. and that's where all the focus and attention will be needed tonight and tomorrow. >> well, thanks, bill. we'll continue to monitor this developing story. we'll be right back. becauset with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement

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welcome back to "politics nation." did you hear that? it's the sound of republicans jumping out of that sinking ship. conservative columnist george will has a devastating new article about mitt romney and rick santorum. he says, quote, neither seems likely to be elected. there would come a point when conservatives turn their energies to a goal much more attainable than electing romney or santorum president. george will has all but given up on a republican beating president obama. but he's not alone. charles krauthammer says, romney

remains slow, stead eunspectacular, the tortoise in the race. dull and methodical with an awkward stiffness, a weak front-runner in an even weaker field. joining me now, msnbc political analyst richard wolffe. he's the author of "revival, the struggle for survival inside the obama white house." and michael steele, msnbc analyst and former rnc chairman. thank you both for being here tonight. >> good to see you, rev. >> michael, you handing out life preservers or is there still time to right this ship? >> abandon ship. no, look, i think both these gentlemen have touched an appropriate nerve that is getting everyone's attention focused on whether or not we are seriously going to contest for not just the nomination but for the white house this fall. and i think the battles that we have seen so far, the bickering,

the back and forth, the ugly ads, all of this is fodder that's been fed to the democrats and that will get replayed against the eventual nominee this fall. so, yeah. i think george will is saying, look. everybody needs to start taking a look at this thing and seeing that at some point, we may have to re-evaluate what the real priority is going to be for november. and so we have time to do that. in other words, let's get it right now, but if we continue down this path, and i agree 100% with him, we might as well focus on something else because this particular goal becomes that much more difficult to attain. >> now richard, i read a lot of endorsements in my career. i've been out here a long time. but let me read to you the "seattle times." they endorsed willard mitt romney officially. sort of. with the headline, washington's gop caucus default choice, mitt romney. that's how they headlined the endorsement. and they say in the endorsement, romney has been his own biggest

impediment. romney does not excite voters and is a suspect choice, except for all the others. i mean, this is the kind of endorsement he's getting. >> right. you know, holding your nose for a candidate is not a best way to turn out voters. will work up to a point. this is a rare moment in this cycle, okay, where everyone seems to have decided they know which way this election is going. this pendulum will swing again. just a few months ago, everyone said the president's numbers were in the tank and the economy wasn't getting any better. and the republicans thought it was a shoo-in. they could vote for anyone. herman cain even was going to be a shoo-in. so this will balance out again moving forward. but the persistent narrative you're seeing, george will is no light weight. he is an influential in his own right. he's only reflecting the conversations going on all over the republican party. certainly many republicans i speak to. and the truth is getting beyond those doubts, getting beyond the

hold your nose attitude to mitt romney is extremely difficult. so his support will pick up. but it will never quite be the turnout you've seen in previous elections. certainly not bush/cheney '04. >> well, michael, it's krauthammer, it's george will. peggy noonan even writes in "the wall street journal" that the candidates look loopy. "what is striking is a growing air of goofiness. as i watched them, i thought that you probably thought it's not good to take an ambien before giving a concession speech." i mean, these are three heavyweight conservative columnists. i mean, it's enough to make you grateful you're not chairman right now. >> well, that's a whole other show, reverend, but -- >> i keep going there with you. >> i know you do, my friend. i know you do. look. you have now had three very significant individuals who

write and express a lot about republican attitudes and the like. say something i think that the party really, i think you hit it, that reflects what the party is really feeling. and so hopefully this will serve as sort of a clairion call to really stop what we've been doing up to now. we're not on message as a national party. we're not on message with as potential nominees for the presidency. we're talking about things that the american people are not focused on. so focus on jobs. focus on the economic growth and prosperity that people want. richard is absolutely right. this pend lum will swing again. but the concern you have to have is when it swings, how far does it swing back towards you. does it swing just enough to make you feel like you are in the game or does it really give you the full momentum you need to go into a very competitive fall campaign. >> let me show you where the president at a fund-raiser last

night as he outlined all the positive changes that happened under his presidency. look at this. >> think about what change looks like. change is health care reform that we've passed after a century of trying. change is keeping another promise i made in 2008 for the first time in nine years, there are no americans fighting in iraq. we put that war to an end. change is the decision we made to rescue the american auto industry from collapse. businesses have added about 3.7 million new jobs. our manufacturing sector is creating jobs again for the very first time since the 1990s. our economy is getting stronger. >> now the pend lum may swing back, but they're going to have to have a good swing to beat that, don't you think, richard? >> well, look. there are plenty of republicans who don't agree with any of that analysis. what's changed with this president isn't just his tone. he now is campaigning on his record. you know, for many years, this

white house was really dubious about whether it could go out and tout its own accomplishments. in fact, republicans have argued very vocally this president didn't have a record he could run on. but now with the economy where it's at, with the auto industry story, and with his legislative accomplishments you have a president who is feeling more confident about saying this is what i've done. that's a different dynamic and that means republicans have to first of all take down the record and then say, and this is why we will do a better job. and those things are both a challenge, not least because they've got candidates who can't even tell their own stories straight. >> got leave it there. richard wolffe, michael steele. thanks. have a great weekend to both of you. >> all righty. >> thank you. ahead -- a bush-appointed federal judge in montana apologizes to the president for sending a racially charged joke in an e-mail. this is outrageous. and it's not enough to just apologize. stay with us. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery?

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now to our ongoing series "here are the jobs." tonight, we're focusing on tech red ventures. it's a technology company headquartered just outside of charlotte. they are looking to fill more than 900 jobs this year. joining me now is elizabeth, red

ventures vice president of human capital. thank you for coming on the show tonight. >> good evening, al. great to be here. >> let's start with what kinds of jobs are available? >> sure. we are actually looking to hire a wide variety of key roles throughout the organization. these positions range from very specialized roles, positions such as web applications developers, web designers, paid search and natural search engine optimization experts. all the way to business analysts. we're also looking for energetic and driven talent to join our expanding inside sales teams. >> now are these permanent jobs and where are they located in the country? >> yes, these are all full-time red ventures positions. we have a few spots still remaining for our summer internship program for rising college seniors. the positions are spread across all three of our locations. so our headquarters facility in ft. mill, south carolina, which

is just about a mile from charlotte, north carolina. where we were recently named the best place to work for the second year in a row. and our two additional locations in san antonio, texas, and miami, florida. >> now most of the jobs are in sales and marketing, but does the company offer on-the-job training? >> absolutely, we do. you know, we do not necessarily require previous experience. so for our inside sales positions, we're looking for that self-starter, driven individual to come into our program. and we offer an extensive combination in classroom and on the job paid training. so regardless of previous experience, our training programs can really set candidates up for success within our organization. >> now your ceo has a quote that caught my eye. it says we love to find people that are motivated. we'll make rock stars out of them. what do you look for in a potential employee? >> so as i said, we are really -- we often say we're looking for the self person.

the self-starter. the self-motivated, driven individual. we're really looking for athletes. people who want to win, have a strong desire to win and accomplish success and they have the willingness to put in the effort it takes to drive tremendous results. you know, we also are very entrepreneurial company. we enable our employees to behave like entrepreneurs without having to actually be one. so that entrepreneurial mind-set really lends itself toward success in our environment. and because we like to have fun at work, we also look for people who have a good sense of humor and are looking to have fun while they work hard. >> how do people apply? >> that's an easy one. red ventures.com. our website. there you'll find descriptions of all of our open positions, as well as the ability to apply online directly for those positions. but you'll also find profiles of our existing employees. you'll find insights into our culture. so redventures.com really does

have it all. we'd also encourage them to check out our facebook page so you can hear more about our company and culture straight from our employees themselves. >> all right. elizabeth hunter-perrson, thanks for joining us tonight. let us know how it goes. and for all the information on our "here are the jobs" series, head to our website, politicsnation.msnbc.com and click on "here are the jobs." or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business, it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities. that's why we extended $6.4 billion in new credit to small businesses across the country last year. because the more we help them, the more we help make opportunity possible. [ female announcer ] nature valley granola bars, rich dark chocolate, toasted oats.

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[ male announcer ] if you're still struggling with depression talk to your doctor to see if the option of adding abilify is right for you. and be sure to ask about the free trial offer. we're back with the story everyone needs to be aware of. the right wing effort to suppress the vote is getting even more dangerous. there's a new threat emerging from a tea party group in texas called the king street patriots. they run an operation called true the vote. in 2010, true the vote placed hundreds of its henchmen at polling stations in heavily

black and latino neighborhoods in houston to observe and question voters. that sounds like voter intimidation to me. and it prompted an investigation by the department of justice. true to vote says it's, quote, helping stop corruption where it can start, at the polls. but the keyword there is start. there's no evidence of fraud. and here's what's most alarming. true to vote now wants to put a million of its observers at polling stations across the entire country. joining me now, judith brown dianis, co-director of a civil rights project focused on issues of democracy and race. thank you for being here tonight. >> thanks, reverend al. >> your group has been watching the king street patriarchs for a while now. >> in 2010 they had their training ground where they recruited over 1,100 volunteers

and placed them at polling places in african-american and latino precincts in houston. and what they've been doing is training folks, they're volunteers, to be at the polling places to challenge the eligibility of voters. and so in 2010 it was the king street patriots. now they are taking their plan nationwide. and as you said, they are recruiting over 1 million volunteers to be at polling places in 2012. and they say they are about election integrity. we know at the end of the day they aren't about preventing fraud. they are about preventing voting. >> they have held a book party for writer matthew vadum who wrote this. he wrote, "the poor can be counted on to vote themselves more benefits by electing redistributionist politicians. registering them to vote is like handing out burglary tools to

criminals." this is what they give a book party for this guy vadum that wrote. so, clearly, when you say they are there, it seems to prevent voting. they have a -- their own opinion of who ought to be voting and who ought to be participating in the democratic process. >> that's right. it's important to understand who they are following and listening to. and people like matthew vadum clearly do not believe that we should have a robust democracy. instead, he'd rather that we cut off participation of american citizens. and so they are listening to this guy and then they are going out and training their folks to be at the polls. but really what's really scary about this is that apparently they are not only training people to be poll watchers, to work for candidates and for the parties, but they also are training people to be poll workers. so we're concerned that they are going to be on both sides of the equation. and if they target minority precincts, we know that in 2010, that it was an intimidation

factor for many of the people who encountered them. >> judith brown-dianis, thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you. joining me now is martin luther king iii, the president and ceo emeritus of the martin luther king center and will join our voting rights march this weekend. and certainly an activist extraordinaire in his own right. thank you for being with us, martin. >> thank you, rev. >> let me -- you are going back, as you have gone many years, to the march across the bridge and then, of course, we're extending it this year because of the special situation we're facing with voter i.d., five days marching from selma to montgomery. 47 years ago, your father came to selma to lead that march after john lewis who we had on last night and then the great late hosea williams was beaten on that bridge. when he got to montgomery he

said these words. let me let you hear him. >> may be some teargas ahead. but i say to you this afternoon that i would rather die on the highways of alabama than make a butchery of my conscience. >> they went at risk of life. we're going this week, not at a risk of life but a risk of losing all your father and your mother and so many gave their lives and time for. how do you feel 47 years later helping to start a movement that walks in your father's footsteps but with some fresh, new challenges? >> well, rev, what i first and foremost feel is saddened by the fact that my dad and his team and many others worked to acquire the right to vote and now there are intentional efforts to reduce or suppress

voting. that is very tragic in 2012. we should be creating opportunities and options for every american to participate in the voting process, including those felons who after they've served their time for society, their rights should be reinstated. there are many states, of course, when you have a felon that you cannot vote. so, yeah, it's troubling. it's disturbing. but what it says is that we must be vigilant. i must applaud you, rev, for bringing this coalition together to make sure that people understand that the right to vote is being, not just challenged, but when you look at the fact that early voting is being reduced. when you look at the fact that their numbers of identification scenarios that used to exist and now they are reducing that. even in my state of georgia, i heard that they are talking about having a scenario where several students at the public institutions can vote but the

private institutions like morehouse, historical leah african-american universities and colleges, can't use their i.d. to vote but other schools can. we've got some challenges and we've got to stand up. we don't have a choice. people like viola louisa died so we'd have that chance to vote. and so many others died so we'd have that precious right. >> now your parents, your father was assassinated. your mother gave her life until her days were over to give you and your sisters and brother a better life. you have a daughter. the only grandchild of dr. king. and you and your beautiful wife andrea hope to give her a better life than you guys had because that's what your parents did. yet with these laws, we don't know if that's true. >> well, you are absolutely correct. and i think what i was most

excited about in our nation was we used to elect -- we used to elect officials who we would hear this notion, the good politician plans for the next election. but the statesperson plans for the next generation. and it seems like we are not concerned about the next generation. we've got to find a way to bring the cadre of young people and new candidates into the process. and one of the things i would say if you are 18 and you can go to war. by the time you're 21 you become a captain in the military, then we certainly should encourage people to become city council members, state legislative positions, county commissioners, even mayors in some cases. at 21 years old, when you have energy and vision, you certainly should offer yourself for those roles. we need people to enter into this process and then to create these opportunities to continue to create the opportunity for everyone to vote. no one should be left behind. >> i watch you and your family

as the nation dedicated the monument to your father on the banks of the potomac. it seems ironic that now they are undermining some of the work he did. it seems like the struggle continues no matter how much they applaud your father's work, martin. >> well, it certainly does. and i think what it creates is an opportunity. and i might say that one of the offshoots of that opportunity is even the occupy movement that is focused on the 1% controlling 40%-plus of the wealth of our nation which could spiral up to 50% or 60%, which it already is beyond dangerous. it's a tragedy. as you know, my father probably was killed not because he was talking about the right to vote, civil rights, human rights but because he was talking about economic empowerment back in 1968. he was talking about the fact

that we need a living wage. and here we are in 2012 and we still have a poor minimum wage that we've got to raise in many areas. but it really goes back to the vote. if people are not able to vote, then they cannot elect the people who will possess that leadership vision. that's why it's so important. all of us should join this demonstration this week between the 4th and the 9th of march. as we observe on the 4th the actual bloody sunday, but then throughout the 4th, as you and others are leading this demonstration, we ought to all be there to say that enough is enough and all we're saying is wee deserve our right to this democratic process by participating in having the right to vote without any kind of forms of suppression. >> martin luther king iii. thanks for your time tonight. see you in selma. i'll be seeing you when we kick off our march on sunday, and we'll be reporting back to you every step of the way. right too,

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we're back with an outrageous story about a montana judge. the top federal judge in montana, richard siebel who used his official court e-mail account to forward a horribly

offensive, racist joke about president obama. the joke suggests the president's late mother had sex with a dog. the judge has since apologized for sending the e-mail, but that's not good enough. not even close. this judge has revealed a shocking lack of judgment that disqualifies him from judging others. joining me now is bill press, nationally syndicated radio host and author of "the obama hate machine, the lies, distortions and personal attacks on the president and who is behind them." bill, does this judge really think one little apology will get him off the hook and keep him on the bench? >> hey, reverend al. he may think that, but if so, he's wrong. you know what i find especially shocking. we've talked about this. this is not an isolated incident. when it comes to president obama, there are no limits

anymore. and we hear all the words. it's not just from talk radio or fox news where he's been called a jerk and a traitor and a fascist and a communist and a nazi. a terrorist. you name it. but the politicians. he's called a liar on the floor of the house. the presidential candidates. he's called a slob by rick santorum this week. there's an ad in the d.c. metro, the d.c. subway system that says go to hell, barack obama and they refuse to take it down. >> that is an ad up in d.c. metro. >> yeah. >> here we're talking about a federal judge. the prelude, the introto the e-mail was, i want to forward this to my friends because i want to see if it will touch you like it touched me. and then it's a joke about the president's mother having sex with an animal and he should be glad he doesn't bark.

sent out over his federal e-mail. >> yeah, reverend al, he does not belong on the bench. i mean, what is the job of a judge? to exercise judgment, right? where is the judgment in using your own e-mail to send out a racist joke saying i don't usually do this, but this one really struck me. you know why? because he's a racist and it's a racist e-mail. here's also what i want to know. where are the voices to condemn him? where's john boehner, mitt romney, rick santorum, mitch mcconnell. they let this stuff slide. >> let me pick up on that. here's how the judge answered the criticism when it came out. he says i'm not a fan of our president but this goes beyond not being a fan. i didn't send it as a racist, although that's what it is. i sent it out because it's anti-obama. two problems with that. if you know it's racist and you sent it out, duh, but secondly, you are anti-obama. well, according to what we're told about federal judges, you're not supposed to be

expressing partisan opinions. so i think that maybe we are going to have to go and challenge the senate to bring him up on impeachment hearings because he is certainly violating what a federal judge is supposed to stand for. he's partisan and clearly by his own admission e-mailing on federal e-mails, racist e-mails about the president of the united states. >> absolutely. and you know if they have no respect for a particular president, they ought to at least have respect for the office of the presidency. and again, reverend al, i hope the reporters keep the pressure on the presidential candidates and the republican leaders to ask them specifically if they condemn that judge's remarks and if they think he ought to stay on the bench as a federal judge as, as you pointed out, he's violated every canon of federal law. >> he was appointed by president bush. federal judges are appointed. it's a legitimate question to ask the presidential candidate whether they'd want to see this kind of guy stay on the bench.

we ought to review his cases. with this kind of basis, who knows what he might have ruled and what he might have been ruling them for. there needs to be an examination on this judge. looking at your book, you said, i'm quoting bill to bill, quote, the personal attacks directed against him, speaking of president obama, has been more relentless and uglier than those against any other president in our lifetime. >> you go back, as i did, in writing this book. criticism of any american president is legitimate. you do it. i did it. we did it for george bush and ronald reagan. but if you look at the attacks against president obam athey have been more personal, more ugly, more vicious and let me remind you, yesterday andrew breitbart died. what did they talk about? that breitbart had these secret tapes. these scandalous tapes on barack obama that they're going to release this year and this will bring obama down. remember the so-called whitey tapes about michelle obama four

years ago? it's the same old pack of lies. it doesn't stop. doesn't stop. >> bill press, thank you for your time tonight. >> reverend al, go get 'em. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. lord of the carry-on.

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welcome back. we've seen how many on the right have gone so extreme, they are refusing to find common ground on anything. this must change. i was on "morning joe" with new jersey governor chris christie today talking about coming together on an issue that matters most, like education. >> this is the one issue that americans can come together. newt gingrich and i didn't agree on the day of the week we were on the road but we said that the system needs to work for the kids. i don't agree with governor christie on a lot. we won't even agree we were here this morning. i don't agree with him on gay

marriage or united natioons. but we both agree at the end of the day if the students are not learning more, it doesn't work. we have to create a climate where the students, the teachers see that leaders in society can come together on something. and that's the future of the country with education. >> that is great news. >> the american people want this. they want to feel united, not divided. 51% say politicians should compromise. just 28% say they shouldn't. causes like education should rise above the fray. so should voting rights. casting a ballot shouldn't be a privilege for some. it should be a right for all. that's why we're marching in alabama next week, retracing the historic voting rights march from selma to montgomery that led to the 1965 voting rights act. we can disagree, we can debate. but we must all protect each other's right to the democratic process that makeshi